Painkiller
by GamerJay
Summary: They never say how much being a superhero hurts. Or the best way to dull the pain. HIROGO


_...his visor broken, Hiro frantically reached for something he can wrap his hands around to bat the mechanical attack dog that was clawing away at him and the brand new flight suit he had just managed to finally iron out the dings following the previous mission, his right hand gripping the machine dog's lower jaw as he fought to stop him from biting his face off._

_Managed to grab a wrench from the spilled contents of a toolbox, he whacked away at the steel hell-hound, exclaimed, "LITTLE HELP HERE!"_

_**CLANG!**_

_And his wish was granted as a rocket-propelled fist sent the beast flying straight into the wall courtesy of Baymax. Rolling over to face his modified Healthcare Companion as he stepped over towards him, Hiro couldn't keep the pained smile off his face as Baymax approached him._

"_Hiro!" Baymax exclaimed. "You are injured!"_

"_Yeah, kinda' feeling it right now, buddy," Hiro deadpanned as he tried to stand up. His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets and he cried out in agony, pressing his hands against his ribs._

"_Scanning now," Baymax informed as he reached down towards him. "You have two fractured left ribs."_

"_That's...what it feels like? Ow!" Hiro painfully inquired as Baymax lifted him up._

Hiro ached as he ran a finger around the medicine bottle cap as he stared at himself in the mirror in the bathroom. He was an absolute _mess, _more so than his other team members. Bandages around his forehead right above a blackened left eye, plaster on his right cheek covering a deep gash from a mechanical claw, gauze covering his bare chest where he had been repeatedly slashed by a saw-knife and more gauze covering his hands and wrists where he was burnt when Wasabi finally destroyed those deathbots and they exploded right in front of him and GoGo.

Trying to further recall their mission from last night it was all a confused blur, probably because Hiro had taken that blow to the head from one of the smugglers. But he knew he and the rest of the team had had been out of their depth when they went up against…whoever or _whatever_ those guys were. A whole solid year of crime-fighting, each threat more horrific and depraved then the last and they had finally met their match in…Hiro couldn't _remember_.

The teen groaned in frustration at the gaps in his memory. He wasn't prepared for _this. _The injuries, the countless near death experiences, the _pain_. He couldn't stand the pain most of all, and he only knew of one way to dull the near chronic amount of agony he seemed to be suffering from nowadays; and the regular store-bought analgesics Aunt Cass kept in the pantry couldn't cut it any longer.

He looked down at the medicine bottle. 'Illegal Bot fighting, attempted murder, vigilantism and _now_ prescription fraud... oh _joy_,' he thought bitterly. 'Wonder if the rap sheet is gonna get any bigger?'

It wasn't hard for a _fifteen_-year old boy genius to draft some fake prescriptions to obtain both oxycodone and the stuff to counter the side effects – tiredness, drowsiness and sickness – and the pharmacies that he went to didn't give him a second glance when he showed them. Again he looked at the mirror, sickened by the _pained_, exhausted looking mess staring back at him.

He popped open the bottle, the lid falling into the sink. He was still aching badly from last night and he remembered not taking anything for it. He missed that dull feeling that came with popping a few of these painkillers – the pain always goes away. The physical kind, and in time as he realised it dulled the kind of pain that danced around the fact that Tadashi is _still_ dead.

He blinked when he something from last night _finally_ came back to him…

"_Hiro? HIRO, LOOK AT ME!"_

_Her hands on his shoulders gently shaking him to try and get his attention, Honey Lemon desperately trying to get Hiro's attention, he couldn't stop himself from clenching his burnt hands as he knelt on the ground, facing away from Wasabi, his still shimmering plasma blades, and the smouldering e remains of the deathbots that had set upon both Hiro and Gog, injuring Hiro badly when he had shoved Hiro out the way and took their slashes to his lightly armored chest, where blood had been drawn and leaving his flight suit critically damaged. Then Wasabi swooped in from above and slashed all five of them in half, causing them all to suddenly explode and send both Hiro and GoGo flying._

"_You have suffered mild third degree burns, GoGo," Baymax informed GoGo as he helped her off the ground. "I recommend anti-burn treat-"_

"_Don't worry about me!"GoGo exclaimed, pointing at Hiro. "You're supposed to be HELPING __**HIM**__!"_

"_Guys," his helm pulled down, Fred peeked through the door leading out of the warehouse and the flashing, lights approaching, the sirens announcing their imminent arrival. "I think we need to split, like, RIGHT NOW!"_

"_Ahhh…dammit, Wasabi," GoGo cried, turning towards the guilty looking melee fighter._

"_Hey, how was I supposed to know that they'd explode?!" he threw his hands up in protest, visibly angry and upset with himself._

"Hiro, are you ok? Are you in her-?"

Hiro's eyes widened when he saw _GoGo_ in the mirror behind him, standing in the doorway leading into the bathroom, dressed in only an oversized old shirt. She had discarded her regular night clothes when they had kept irritating her own bandaged injuries on her right cheek, both her arms, her right leg and her stomach; and this had flustered Hiro to no end. He had felt ashamed of himself when he had gotten up to go to the bathroom he had spent half a minute staring at her sleeping form.

Hiro remembered. He was at the SFIT Dormitories, in _GoGo's_ room. She had invited him over, and just to make sure he wouldn't be alone when he was trying to go cold turkey. He had told Cass that he would be staying over at the dorms of SFIT for a few days because he, GoGo, Honey Lemon, Wasabi and Fred at a really important science project that _had_ to be done before the week ended; where in reality he wanted somewhere he can lock himself up for a few days as he went through withdrawal.

And somehow he couldn't remember taking the oxycodone with him.

"Seriously, Hiro?!" GoGo exclamation brought him back to the present, gripping the medicine bottle in her hand and looking like she wanted to crush it in her grip as she yelled at him. "We didn't let you crash here and _cover_ for you from your aunt and the university so you can dope yourself up just because you can't handle the pain, I-"

"I'm sorry."

She stopped when she Hiro muttered quietly, looking down at his feet as he placed a hand against the counter to steady himself. GoGo's expression softened as Hiro desperately stopped himself from breaking down, the pain becoming too much for him to handle. Such as the case for GoGo as well, who found herself staring at the medicine bottle as well, her own injuries flaring up. She swallowed lightly, edging her thumbs towards the opened lid of the bottle. She stopped short just off the edge before quickly spilling its contents into the toilet and flushing them.

Hiro imagined himself diving right after those pills, but he considered himself better than that. His _friends_ thought him better than that. _GoGo _saw him as being better than that. He wasn't going to let any of them down. GoGo's thoughts mirrored Hiro's as she gently took Hiro's hand in her and helped him steady himself on his feet.

She guided Hiro by the hand back to bed. Lying down on top of the sheets, GoGo cuddled up against Hiro's back, wrapping her arms around his chest and holding him to her, careful to not injure him any more than he already was. They had no idea how much longer withdrawal was supposed to last, nor how much until campus security and SFIT's administration began to suspect something – namely two chronically injured superheroes going cold turkey off heavy painkillers in their dormitories.

For now GoGo didn't care. She held Hiro a little tighter, not enough to hurt him but to let him know that he wasn't suffering _alone_. Hiro closed his eyes, gently moving one of his hand to give GoGo's hand across his chest an affectionate squeeze.

"_Hey Hiro…"_

_Hiro almost choked on the pills he was in the process of swallowing as he shoved the medicine bottle in the drawer underneath his computer desk and slamming it shut, quickly turning his chair towards his office door and smiling awkwardly at GoGo, and trying not to look aghast at the bandage around her forehead._

"_Hey, GoGo!" Hiro replied a bit too loudly. "How's the head?"_

"…_fine," she replied, hesitantly. She groaned as she moved a hand towards her left shoulder. "You should ask me about my shoulder."_

_Hiro's smile faded when he remembered how her arm got dislocated a fortnight ago. He shuddered as he recalled it took both him and Honey Lemon to pop it back into it's socket._

"_It __**still**__ hurts?"_

"_Like a bitch," she groused. "Pardon my French."_

"_Heh…I've heard worse," Hiro chuckled, nervously. "Remember when Wasabi-?"_

"_Almost got run though the leg with an electric-charged speargun?" GoGo finished for him, mildly bemused. "I think he missed a couple of words, though."_

"_Yeeaaaahhhh…" Hiro rolled his eyes towards his desk draw. "So…ummm…anything you needed?"_

_GoGo raised an eyebrow, noting how nervous Hiro looked._

"_Just…checking up on you," GoGo said, trying to sound annoyed. "We're worried and -"_

"_I'm fine, really!" Hiro brushed her off with a big smile._

"…_sure," GoGo replied, then suddenly yelled in pain and dropped the folder she was carrying full of schematics for the bike she was __**almost**__ close to completing ie 'it's fast enough'. She gritted her teeth as she massaged the ball in her shoulder. "Dammit!"_

_Hiro was out of his chair in a heartbeat, helping her pick up the papers._

"_You should see someone about that shoulder," Hiro commented offhandedly as she scooped up her papers and handed to her. "Here."_

_GoGo sighed as she tucked the folder underneath her right arm pit, "Thanks. And yeah…I'll get around to it."_

"…" _Hiro blinked. "Hey, GoGo…I…err…"_

"_Yeah?" GoGo looked at him, looking understandably irritated. "Really need to go find an icepack or something."_

"_You know, I think I've got __**something **__in my drawer to help with the pain…"_

"_It's legal, right?"_

Hiro shuddered lightly as he felt that much sicker. It was his fault GoGo was going through the same thing he was.

"GoGo, I-"

GoGo quietly and gently hushed him. "It's ok, Hiro," she whispered as she felt herself slowly drift off. "It gets the better of us."

Hiro relaxed in her hold, "…pain?"

He didn't get answer, GoGo had fallen back asleep; the rise and fall of her chest against Hiro's back helping to take his mind off the pain. Gently raising GoGo's hand to his lips in a kiss, he was confused about his relationship with the bubble-gum popping speed freak, but he appreciated her company, and her _warmth_. And somehow he knew she appreciated having someone to hold on to as she went through withdrawal…

He couldn't bring himself to think anymore.

He was so tired. He just wanted to sleep…

(BH6)

_**A/N:**__ This was inspired by a scene from the film Daredevil where Matt Murdock briefly chews on some pills – presumably painkillers, and the deconstructive elements found in many other modern superhero movies. The fractured nature of this fic, I can imagine that is how anyone going through withdrawal would feel like. I admit, I wrote this with intent on letting the readers' piece things together themselves._

_Special thank s to __**RealRemainder**__ for proofreading._


End file.
